SEC to Count Independents as Power 5 Requirement

Starting the 2016 season, the Southeastern Conference will accept any games played against FBS independent schools toward the quota of playing at least one non-conference Power 5 team.

With the inception of the College Football Playoff and the autonomy vote from the Power 5, the gap between the top tier of college football and the rest of college football is ever-increasing. Many conferences are now requiring that their teams play at least one Power 5 team not in their own conference, including the SEC, although the Atlantic Coast Conference will start the requirement during the 2017 season.

Alabama is set to play Wisconsin of the Big Ten and USC of the Pac-12 to fill their quota of playing one non-conference Power 5 team during the regular season over the next two years, but is this good for college football or could it be detrimental?

There are only three independents in FBS football (Notre Dame, BYU, and Army), and no SEC team is scheduled to play Army over the next few years, but will some teams start scheduling Army to fill the quota and get an "easy win" over a "Power 5" team?

As reported by Brett McMurphy of ESPN, the SEC passed this requirement because the Pac-12, Big Ten, and the ACC all play nine conference games, and although the SEC is considered the best conference in college football, adding another game against a quality non-conference opponent was the only way of allowing FBS football to be fair at the highest level.

We've seen that the College Football Playoff Selection Committee values winning your conference championship game, and obviously strength of schedule is a factor. But with more games featuring non-conference Power 5 teams, will that remove some teams from consideration of the selection committee? More games against better competition is good for television, but theoretically will result in more losses for the top teams.

There's a possibility that this would dilute the regular season, as we could see two and possibly three loss teams make the College Football Playoff.

We won't know how it affects the landscape of college football until the time comes, but raising questions and speculating about the future is the only way to make sure the powers that be get this right.